Slow Playback
The playback was very very slow. Turns out to be %75 percent slower than it should be. I was playing back a piece that was 85 bpm, and it sounded very slow. I double-checked it with a metronome and raised the playback speed until it matched the metronome. The current playback speed is now 149 bpm, even though it should be 85. If I put it back to 85 bpm it sounds insanely slow.
Comments
What is your tempo based on?
Note that what Musescore calls bpm is actually crotchets (aka quarter notes) per minute - unhelpful! If your tempo is based on dotted crotchets (e.g. for a 6/8 time signature) then 100 dotted crotchets per minute would be reported by Musescore as 150 beats [sic] per minute.
In reply to What is your tempo based on?… by SteveBlower
> Note that what Musescore calls bpm is actually crotchets (aka quarter notes) per minute - unhelpful!
Isn't that generally the case in music notation?
If I see "minim=100" on my sheet of music, I have to play it like "crotchet=200".
In reply to > Note that what Musescore… by HildeK
"Isn't that generally the case in music notation?"
Not if the beat isn't a crotchet as for example in 6/8 where the beat is a dotted crotchet - 2 to the bar, or a quaver - 6 to the bar, but not a crotchet - which would be 3 to a bar, or in your case of minim = 100, where you should expect 100 beats, each a minim long per minute - not 200 beats, each a crotchet long.
[Edit] How many beats per minute here?
![BPM.jpg]( "BPM.jpg")
[Edit again]
See also https://musescore.org/en/node/306588, https://musescore.org/en/node/304412, https://musescore.org/en/node/291727
This is a "bee in my bonnet" that keeps buzzing. Perhaps it needs to go on Github.
[Edit yet again]
It already is on Github and "in progress" https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/14678.
Perhaps that bee will get out of my bonnet at last!
In reply to "Isn't that generally the… by SteveBlower
> or in your case of minim = 100, where you should expect 100 beats, each a minim long per minute - not 200 beats, each a crotchet long.
I'm not really experienced in music theory.
I just want to know how long or short a crotchet, for example, should be played. Yes, the conductor will conduct it differently in these two cases, but for the player there is no difference in the duration of a crotchet in the case mentioned.
In reply to > or in your case of minim =… by HildeK
"I just want to know how long or short a crotchet, for example, should be played. "
So if you are playing something written in 6/8 you expect three beats in a bar?
"I'm not really experienced in music theory." No comment!
In reply to *"I just want to know how… by SteveBlower
Musescore does either 2 beats or 6 depending on the tempo when counting in a 6/8 measure. That's fine for me.
But I'm out now. Especially because of my limited understanding of music theory and the English language. Maybe we're talking at cross purposes.
In reply to Musescore does either 2… by HildeK
Yes it does 2 beats or 6 beats in 6/8 but neither of those are a quarter note (crotchet) in length which is how Musescore reports the tempo.
If you have a tempo text setting the tempo to dotted crotchet = 60, meaning 60 dotted crotchet beats per minute and then look then look at the play panel in MU3 it tells you that the tempo is 90 bpm (beats per minute). It makes no mention of the length of each beat but maths tells you they are crotchets.
MU4 is slightly better. It will tell you the tempo 90 undotted crotchet beats per minute which would be correct if there were three beats in each bar, but you have specified the tempo as dotted crotchets per minute and would expect only 2 beats per bar
[Edited to correct typos]
In reply to Yes it does 2 beats or 6… by SteveBlower
I really appreciate your efforts to introduce me to a piece of theory. Thank you for that!
Still, a score with 6/8 measures can have quarter notes in it and they will be played at the length Musescore indicates in the play panel. That was my point.
The abbreviation BPM in 3.6.2 therefore seems to be an unfortunate choice at this point. In one of your links the abbreviation QBM was mentioned - perhaps better ...
In the original question, I still can't find any kind of tempo indication where the tempo has to be changed from 85 to 149 for it to be reproduced correctly - that's math too :-). We still don't know what @Varkem actually has in his score.
Thanks again!
In reply to I really appreciate your… by HildeK
Indeed, it will be good to hear back from the OP exactly what tempo has been set.
Meanwhile, while we wait...
Here is a tune in 6/8 6-8Tune.mscz
It looks like this with a dotted crotchet beat - the arrows indicate the start of every dotted crotchet beat.
It looks like this with an undotted crotchet beat
Note the tempo indications in each case. Musescore makes no distinction between the two cases in the tempo reported in the play panel. Both would be reported as 108 bpm.
Play the tune and see where you feel you would tap your foot. I am sure it will be the first one. That is what is meant by the tune having a dotted crotchet beat.
In reply to Here is a tune in 6/8 … by SteveBlower
I understand this and yes, my foot taps on the arrows of the picture above.
But the playback duration e.g. of the crotched note in bar 2 is of course still the same as the corresponding tied quavers of the picture below. And the playback speed of the score of course too.
And so, as a beginner, I see a problem for myself if, for example, minim=100 is given as the tempo and the score also contains quavers - based on my math experience ... :-)